Cotton picker doffer means



Jan. 5, 1954 NICKLA 2,664,688

COTTON PICKEJR DOFFER MEANS Filed April 18, 1951 1 BY 18 M 32 Z4 PM C). PM

1 J S I 2 I R \5 atented Jan. 5, 1954 COTTON PICKER DOFFER MEANS Louis E. Nickla, Memphis, Tenn, assignor to International Harvester Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application April 18, 1951, Serial No. 221,604

Claims.

This invention relates to cotton harvesters of the class shown and described in U. S. Patent 2,140,631 issued to E. A. Johnston on December 20, 1938, and more particularly to a novel mounting for the dofier means.

Present constructions based on this patent comprises a plurality of crop-gathering elements in the form of barbed spindles which move in a determined orbit such that the spindles follow a sequence of entering a cotton plant to gather the lint and then, laden with the crop, moving to a doiilng station, whereat means are employed to remove or strip the cotton therefrom. This process is repetitive as explained in the patent.

The dofling means comprises a series of vertically spaced doif er assemblies carried on a driving shaft, each assembly including a disc with several dofiing members or pads employed to sweep over a specified horizontal row of spindles. The pads are generally formed of rubber or the like and in use are gradually worn away so that periodic adjustment is required for proper functioning of the mechanism.

The adjustment in current use is manually operated and sets the dofier assemblies in one position which remains unchanged until a subsequent manual resetting. During each adjustment the operator is required to guess'at the setting to provide for an average condition. In addition, in practice the operator is usually less discriminating and frequently sets the dofier means as low as possible so that the doffing elements are pressed into contact with the spindles. As a result, the spindles as well as the doffers are subjected to heavy intermittent stresses because of inadequate clearance therebetween. These conditions also accelerate wear. At times, due to a choke in the conveyor system, insufficient moisture, or improper adjustment, a spindle may become wrapped with a wad of cotton and foliage which fails to doff and is forced under the dofier discs. Inasmuch as current mechanisms do not provide any relief for such conditions the parts are either bent out of shape or frequently broken.

A general object of the invention is to provide a doffer mechanism of simple and effective design and which Will alleviate the conditions discussed.

A more specific object is to provide a novel doffer mechanism incorporating a resilient means cooperating with the adjusting means to provide a yielding construction which will accommodate uneven bunching of plant matter on the spindles.

The invention contemplates a doffer mechanism comprising a shaft with dofier assemblies thereon, the shaft being adjustable to position the assemblies with respect to the spindles and the shaft being associated with resilient means arranged to bias the mechanism to its adjusted position, the doffer mechanism being movable against the resistance of the resilient means to clear heavy bunching of crop and the like on the spindles.

A different object of the invention is to arrange the resilient means so that it maintains the parts of the dofier adjusting mechanism in tight assembly with each other and also serves as an antirattling device. A spring provides a resilient adjustment to protect the parts contacting spindles.

A further object is to arrange the resilient means in a manner that it frictionally interlocks the adjusting assembly with other members of the dofier mechanism to maintain the adjusting mechanism in selected adjusted position.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent from the specification and the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a dofling mechanism incorporating the invention, portions of the mechanism being shown in vertical section, the View also showing the relationship of the dofiing mechanism with the picking spindles of the picking mechanism fragmentarily shown, and

Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan view thereof.

Describing the invention in detail, the doffer mechanism generally indicated 2 is associated with a picking mechanism generally indicated 4 which is herein illustrated as comprising a bar 6 with a plurality of spindles 8, B thereon. This spindle carrier 6 is but one of several of such members embodied in a cotton picking unit as that shown in the above mentioned Patent No. 2,140,631. The operation of the picker unit 4 is as explained in the patent and it will suffice to say for the present purpose that each spindle 3 gathers a crop thereon and moves to the doifer mechanism 2.

The dofier mechanism or dofier element means 2 comprises a substantially vertical driving shaft [0 carrying a plurality of doffer disc assemblies l2, I2 rotatable therewith, each dofier disc i2 being associated with a specified horizontal row of spindles 8. It will be understood that the assemblies l2 are arranged to sweep tangentially across the row of spindles associated therewith. The discs may be secured to the shaft Ill in any convenient manner as by splines such as shown in the before mentioned patent, or they may be clamped by means of nut 32, with no other driving means except friction.

,. accuse assembly movably carried thereby and movable axially to a position in cooperative relationship with the spindles, stop means on the support cooperatively positioned with respect to said asfsembly, adjusting means connected to the as sembly and in abutment with said stop means for adjusting the position of the assembly with respect to the spindles, and resilient means reactively disposed between said support and said assembly and biasing said assembly to the adjusted position thereof and frictionally engaging said adjusting means with said stop means to resist unadjusting movements of said adjusting means.

3. In a cotton harvester of the type having a substantially horizontal row of rotating spindles, a doffer unit comprising a substantially vertical shaft, a doffer element connected to the shaft and arranged to sweep over the row of spindles, a support, a rotatable slidable connection between the lower end of the shaft and the support accommodating endwise movement of the shaft, a driving gear sleeved over the shaft adjacent to the upper end thereof and having splined connection with the shaft accommodating axial movement therebetween, a bearing carried by the support and sleeved over the shaft above the gear and seated on its bottom side thereagainst, said hearing and shaft being axially slidable relative to each other, abutment means on the shaft spaced beneath the gear, resilient means compressed between the gear and the said abutment means urging said shaft downwardly, and adjusting means acting between the upper end of the shaft and in seated engagement with the top side of the bearas ing against the resistance of said resilient means.

4. In a dofiing unit for a cotton harvester of the rotating spindle type, a substantially vertical shaft, a support, a, bearing thereon slidably receiving the shaft therethrough, an adjusting nut assembly threaded on the upper end of the shaft and seated upon one side of said bearing, abutment means on the shaft disposed in opposing relationship to the opposite side of said bearing and resilient means reactively stressed between said abutment means on the shaft and said opposite side of the bearing to hold the nut assembly and bearing in tight axial engagement with each other.

5. In a cotton picker, a doffing unit comprising a substantially vertical shaft, a rotatable support slidably ensleeved about the shaft, an adjusting assembly in threaded engagement with the shaft and abutting one side of the support, a driving element connected to rotate the shaft and slidable axially thereon, and having an axial extenion at one side in engagement with the opposite side of the support, and a spring sleeved over the shaft and compressed between the opposite side of the gear and an abutment surface carried by the shaft.

LOUIS E. NICKLA.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,828,534 Johnston et al Oct. 20, 1931 2,140,631 Johnston Dec. 20, 1938 2,502,696 Barnes Apr. 4, 1950 

